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NBA Family: helping Brian Grant make a difference

At the most vulnerable time of his life, Brian Grant sacrificed
his treasured privacy, telling the story of his battle with depression and diagnosis
of young-onset Parkinson’s.

Inherently, Grant recognized what he could do to try to make a
difference in the fight against the disease. His 12-year career in the NBA,
which featured stops in Portland, Miami and a season with the Lakers had forged
tight relationships and afforded him a unique platform.

He went public last year, and Grant’s story was told eloquently and
sensitively by ESPN’s Ric Bucher and later by Ken Berger of CBSSports.com.
Grant, who is holding a two-day funding raising event in Portland, Ore., starting
Sunday, spoke about the gratifying response he has received from the extended NBA
Family.

There will be a meet-and-greet
gala Sunday night at the Rose Garden and a golf event on Monday to benefit Parkinson’s
research. Among those expected to attend are Michael J. Fox, Muhammad Ali, Pat
Riley, Bill Walton, Bill Russell and a host of past and current NBA players.

“Making calls to people I really didn’t even know, like Bill
Russell and [Bill] Walton and guys like that immediately saying, ‘I’m there’
really makes me feel good about having been a part of the NBA for 12 years,”
Grant said in a telephone interview with The Times last week.

He spoke about the decision to go public last year.

“A lot of it had to do with pride and the fact that as an athlete
you are at the top of your conditioning," Grant said. "You always feel like you’re in control
of everything going on in your life, mainly your body and then being hit with a
debilitating disease, that actually you’re going to lose control of your body
over the years.

“As I sit here and talk to you about it, my hand is tremoring. You
kind of get past it and you realize, look, you’re not the only one dealing with
this. There are people dealing with this. It affects their jobs, and it affects
what they have to do each and every day. Man up.”

“He didn’t call me as Michael J. Fox, the actor/advocate, he just
called me a person and spoke to me as a person and just told me about how it
was for him when he first decided to go public and how you’ve got to lose the
vanity,” Grant said.

“Otherwise you’ll go crazy. People are going to look as you start
to lose more and more control of your body. You just can’t worry about it. That’s
not who you are. Parkinson’s isn’t who you are, it’s just something you live
with it.”

Grant said his health is “pretty good.” He is using a blend of conventional medicine
and natural-based measures and said one of the missions of his foundation is to
increase public awareness and the education of newly diagnosed patients,
providing a one-stop website for concise information.

The website will be in good hands if Grant quotes the late John
Lennon on it, the way he did later in our interview when we spoke about trying
to control life:

“Somebody gave me a quote and I thought it was awesome. John
Lennon said: Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans. That is
so true.”